How does 80 miles per gallon sound to you?

[chadtm80]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/...7.htm

VW Lupo: Rough road to fuel economy

Volkswagen's Lupo. (VW)
BERLIN - Great fuel economy can be a pain.

Volkswagen has just begun selling a revolutionary machine in Germany called the 3L (for 3-liter) Lupo, and after a 150-mile run here from Braunschweig, the lasting impressions are a beastly backache from the cheap seats and maddening frustration from the mechanical compromises necessary to achieve the car's remarkable fuel economy.

The 3L refers not to engine size but to the fact that it is designed to use just three liters of fuel per 100 kilometers - about 78 miles per gallon. No production car in the USA gets close. The three-liter formula is a long-standing environmentalists' challenge that VW is first to answer after nine years of work.

Driven normally, the little Lupo turned in 70 miles per gallon, mainly on two-lane roads through stop-and-start villages. That was 3.38 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. Others on the test drive, trying to better the target, sipped just 2.79 liters per 100 km, equal to about 84 miles per gallon.

VW markets a variety of Lupos, none intended for the USA because of their tiny size and lack of power. The 3L is a niche model, expected to attract just a few thousand buyers a year.

VW has no plans to sell any Lupo in the USA. But lightweight construction and other fuel-efficient features were portrayed as a U.S.-bound technology if fuel economy ever becomes more important than it is now.

The 3L Lupo uses a 1.2-liter, turbocharged, three-cylinder diesel engine linked to an unusual transmission. It is a five-speed manual because those are more efficient than automatics. But there is no clutch, and the gearbox is shifted automatically by the car, not the driver, to make sure it stays in the most fuel-efficient gear.

[Lindaloo]

No more cars that cause backaches!! I do not care how many miles to the gallon they get. lol.

[GalvestonDuck]

No A/C? I'd have to pass. Gotta have air!